Given the demands of workers today are changing, businesses realize that they need to take the needs of their employees into consideration if they want to hire top-notch, qualified people.

The Sharing Economy Isn't A New Concept

Contrary to popular belief, the sharing economy concept is not shiny and new. With the lightning speed of new technology, the job market has reached a point of making the sharing economy more possible.

Also, the ability to call out specific skills and job requirements makes interviewing easier and faster. Employers can scan through profiles, job skills, and experience in a lot less time and stress on staffing departments.

Yellow Cab

Or, Yellow Cab San Antonio, who has taken an "if you can't beat them, join them" approach. The company has tapped into a mobile app ZTrip, which functions very much like Uber.

ZTrip is a mobile app that allows independent taxi companies to access and schedule fares. As a real convenience, reservations can be made and paid for through the mobile app right on your cell phone.

Sound familiar?

Getting on board with shared economy technology came about for Yellow Cab due to a significant loss in market share for the taxi cab business at the San Antonio International Airport over the past year.

Upwork

As another example, look at Upwork, a gig-based company connecting freelancers with businesses with hiring requirements.

Upwork, born out of a 2014 merger between oDesk and Elance, reports that almost 300,000 design-related jobs were posted on the site in 2015.

Co-Working Trend

In major cities throughout the U.S., an up-and-coming trend is to be found in co-working spaces.

These work arrangements, built in mind for freelancers, prevent the isolation one can experience working outside a traditional 9-to-5 job.

One such co-working space company is WeWork, currently expanding to major cities throughout the world.

WeWork offers its sharing economy workers support and services such as web assistance, human resources, and accounting support. This removes some of the fear independent face in dealing with these things on their own.

Reviewing Unused Assets

In the spirit of recycling and going green, and if you have an established business, maybe it's time for a bit of housecleaning. While doing so, you may come across some old, or unused assets lying around.

Recently, TD Bank reviewed their archives to see what materials could be used to assist in training employees. Spoiler alert: they found a lot, and it saved them tons of money!

Since training can be a significant business expense, re-purposing assets can save a lot of money on employee manuals and training materials.

Final Thoughts

With 50% of our workforce projected to be freelancing by 2020, it's important to start your business planning now.

Get your team together, discuss this trend, and brainstorm the effects it will have you.

This isn't just a hiring issue; it will affect your supply chain, customer service, technology, and so much more.

In 2016, global insurtech investments totaled $1.7 billion, with both the volume and value of deals roughly doubling since 2014. This doesn’t include companies that are self-funded, have traditional financing, or work with angel investors to bring innovation to the $4.5 trillion global insurance industry. And, every segment of the insurance value chain has been impacted by those investments, including claims.

We are excited to announce our partnership with the CCC ONE platform to help insurance policyholders file self-service claims remotely. CCC ONE is a cloud platform developed by CCC Information Services, Inc. (CCC), a leading software as a service provider to the automotive, insurance, and collision repair industries. Founded in 1980, CCC leverages the CCC ONE platform to link a vast network of more than 350 insurance carriers, more than 24,000 repair facilities, hundreds of part suppliers, dozens of third-party data and service providers, and car manufacturers.

Through this partnership, CCC’s customers can electronically connect to our on-demand field force of more than 40,000 well-trained Lookers who are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Our Lookers are always standing by to help insurers provide a high-level of service at a critical point in the claims process. When assigned, one of our Lookers will gather imagery and information in the field, in any U.S. location—even rural areas—in as little as one day.

How it works

When a claim qualifies for CCC’s mobile channel, policyholders are instructed by their insurer how to capture and upload photos of the damage via their smart device. However, when the policyholder requests assistance, or they do not complete the process within the insurer-defined period, insurers can send us an electronic notification through CCC ONE.

As soon as we receive the request for assistance, we dispatch a nearby Looker to take and upload photos to CCC ONE. Once the photos are uploaded, they are immediately available for insurance appraisers to initiate the claims or repair process.

Additionally, any of CCC’s customers can directly assign claims to WeGoLook through CCC ONE. Once assigned, we immediately dispatch Lookers to capture and upload photos and other requested information from the site of the claim.

It’s a win, win, win

We’re very excited about this partnership the many ways it allows WeGoLook to offer value to policyholders and insurers alike. With CCC and WeGoLook, policyholders gain an even more seamless experience when filing self-service claims. Insurers get access to our on-demand workforce through the CCC platform to help them provide even better service to their insurance industry clients.

And for us, this partnership furthers our mission, and the mission of our parent company, Crawford & Company, to help restore and enhance lives, businesses, and communities.